


The Saddest Man in Town

by Captain_Repression



Category: Venom (Movie 2018)
Genre: Other, POV Outsider, Romantic Fluff, Valentine's Day, symbrock
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-09
Updated: 2019-02-09
Packaged: 2019-10-25 01:24:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 862
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17715398
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Captain_Repression/pseuds/Captain_Repression
Summary: Written for the Symbrock Squad Valentine's day event.A diner's wait staff deals with Eddie Brock's apparently solitary romantic date. Eating out alone on Valentine's day can be sad, but acting out a whole date with no partner to be seen certainly is more pathetic!





	The Saddest Man in Town

It was a comfortable diner. Not a fancy restaurant, but several notches above a fast food. Today, all the tables were taken : it was Valentine's day, and, for working class lovebirds, it was quite a reasonable treat to share.

Sandra, the waitress, looked in annoyance at the lone man taking up a whole booth. He had the look of someone who tried to make himself look classy, but lacked the wardrobe or the fashion sense to pull it. His jeans were freshly washed, but the fabric worn out around the seams, close to breaking apart. The shirt? Equally clean, but with the collar stretched out and a tacky slogan printed across the chest. A nicer jacket came short of saving the outfit. He was talking on a cellphone, but she never once saw the cracked touchscreen light up, she suspected he was only pretending.

“Do you want to take that weird client, Julie? I don't think he'll be trouble but he makes me cringe.”

Julie, who tended the cash register and managed the orders, leaned over for a quick peek. The man noticed her motion and gave an absent-minded wave.

“What's wrong with him?”

Sandra lowered her voice:

“I'm pretty sure he's faking a phonecall right now. Pretending his date is on the way, doesn't want people to know he's dining alone on Valentine's day. That's sad and embarrassing. If he starts crying I don't know what I'll do!”

Julie rolled her eyes.

“You're not his therapist. Just take his order and ignore anything weird. Look, I'll take over if he cries.”

Sandra finally approached the stranger and greeted him. He turned out to be polite and warm. Taking the phone away from his ear, he gave his order for two meals. The waitress felt relieved, someone was really on their way. Ordering while their date was coming so they wouldn't have to wait was sweet.

There was too much work to focus on one specific customer, but glances as she moved between tables showed him continuing his conversation and seemingly having a great time. Eventually, his order was ready, and he was still alone. She went to his table:

“I see your friend hasn't arrived yet, would you like me to leave their plate under the heat lamp until they're here?”

The stranger looked puzzled, then slightly embarrassed, and finally answered, stammering a little:

“No... No, it's fine, I... I'll take these right now.”

Sandra returned with both orders. Now the table was loaded with fish&chip, coleslaw, steak, fried rice, one glass of red beer and one of hot chocolate. Well he better do have a date, because either of the plates had enough to leave their man quite full!

He thanked her, and dug in the moment she started to walk away. She had other clients to take care of, and did her best not to shoot glances in his direction while she worked. He had gotten her morbid curiosity going, though, so when most seated customers were served and work slowed again, she spied on him again. Good God! He really was roleplaying a whole date, conversing too carelessly to even make a convincing effort at pretending it was into his phone, and on a good way to cleaning both plates, picking alternatively from both, as if to sate both characters' appetite fairly.

“Julie, the sad man is going to make himself sick right here. Even if I clean it up quickly, that's going to upset customers. Should I ask him to leave?”

The cashier looked, caught his gaze, and looked away with embarrassment.

“What kind of grief makes a man pretend his girl is there? We can't throw him out now, it's so sad!”

Against the best predictions of human biology, the man did finish all the food, showing no sickness or discomfort. He leaned back, and chatted longer, smiling blissfully. Sandra would have liked to ignore him, but he waved for her attention.

“I'll take the mocha cheesecake and the check, please. Just one bill.”

She nodded.

“Just one bill, yes. Just one slice of cake, too?”

He rubbed his stomach contentedly as he talked:

“Oh yes, one will be enough. We'll share.”

At least he didn't try to negotiate splitting the bill with the missing date, there was that. The slice of cake she carved him was smaller than it was supposed to be, but she figured that gave him better chances of not dying before making it out of the restaurant. She leaned on the counter while Julie printed the bill.

“He's really taken into his imaginary date. That's no way to cope for an adult, that ought to be the saddest man in town!”

Julie handed her the check, which she took to the table along with the dessert and a complimentary coffee. He took his time, still focused on his lonely conversation, seeming to enjoy every second of it.

Sandra was tending a table near the door when he finally left. She looked up just in time to see him exit, and right before he allowed the door to close behind him, the happiest man in town gave her a friendly wave.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to Jessica for proofreading this!  
> https://archiveofourown.org/users/comebackjessica/pseuds/comebackjessica


End file.
